Week 1- Master's Program

I think I want to write a little blurb after each of my classes, just to record my thoughts and feelings about this new path that I'm on.  First a little background about me:  I've never been a super academic person.  I did well in high school but never took AP classes-- or even knew about them?  I took one honor's class and the last math class I ever took was my junior year.  My senior year I took electives like guitar and wood shop.  :)

Anyway, it was a miracle that I was accepted to BYU and I was really surprised and excited.  I'll be honest: my freshman year was like playtime non-stop and I absolutely loved it.  My earliest class time was 9am and I really struggled getting to class on time... and even if I WAS in class, actually staying awake was a challenge.  At one point, my friend and I made bed-time charts when we were living in the dorms, and for a while my average bed time was 4am. Yikes!  But c'mon... dorm life was like a never-ending sleepover!  I had a blast.  I worked part-time at Jamba Juice on campus and seemed to be the only person in my circle of friends with a job.  So that was a bummer at times when I had to miss out on some of the fun things... but Jamba Juice provided a whole new social life away from the dorms and I still had a fun time.  :)

My grades weren't awesome.  I still remember celebrating a D- in American Heritage because I really thought I was going to fail.  It was hard to sit in those comfy auditorium style seats in a class of 900 students and NOT fall asleep or zone out.  I don't know how I made it.  I got a D in the psychology class that I really thought I would like.  Wrong.  I even got a C in "Teachings of the Living Prophets" because the class was at 1:00pm and that was like PURE sleepy time for me and I could NOT stay awake for the life of me.  And I really wanted to be alert and pay attention!  It just wasn't physically possible for the most part. :)  I had to re-take geology (which is dum because I love rocks & minerals) because I could never wake up in time for class and just missed out on too many things).  And the list goes on. How did I even make it through BYU?

LUCKILY I found a major that I loved. And by the time I graduated, my major GPA was 3.55, and overall maybe a 3.2.  MUCH Better.  Recreation Management was the PERFECT major for me.  The professors were amazing, fun, quirky, energetic, creative, hilarious, loving, passionate, etc. We did a lot of group work and let's be honest-- people in the Recreation Management major are just awesome and fun. Most are super outdoorsy and/or outgoing so it was easy and comfortable to do group projects.  We did some ridiculously amazing fieldtrips like going from St. George to San Diego to visit various recreation centers and learn along the way-- YMCA surf camp in San Diego was a highlight, not to mention Disneyland. :)

I did my internships with a BSA scout camp, BYU Sports Camps, and the Boys & Girls Club in Provo.  All were great experiences, and it's obvious to see which path I decided to pursue.  I graduated from BYU in 2002 and worked at the Boys & Girls Club, then the YMCA for several years, and now Boys & Girls Club again.  Life is good.  My recreation experience has been good.

Now it's time to be a student again. This time it's with University of Phoenix-- the campus in Murray, UT.

I loved my class tonight!  Basically just a lot of "intro" information and the expectations of the next 2 years, but I really like our professor and it's easy to feel her "counselor" vibes.  She speaks very clearly and thoughtfully, and I feel like I could just sit there in her office and soak in any kind of life advice she had to share with me.  I hope I can be a counselor like that one day.  People have told me I'm a good public speaker-- if only my neck and face didn't immediately turn red when I'm put on the spot! 

We had to share something unique about ourselves, so I told everyone I can spin a basketball on any of my fingers and do tricks.  I also mentioned that I love music and write songs with the piano and guitar.  *shrug*  Nothing huge and out of the ordinary, but now they can maybe get a better image of me as a teen program Director and how I might interact with the teens at the Club.

There are 10 of us in the class: 9 girls and 1 boy.  I happened to work with the boy when we split up into pairs, and he has a good background in working with dilinquent kids at one of those scary places with tough kids.  He was also a cop in Vegas for a few years.  He's older, so don't go thinking I'm trying to get a date out of this guy.  Just pure classmates.  We have to edit each other's papers this week so I'm hoping he has some good skills.  Both of us have been out of school for at least 10 years.  Sheesh.

I wrote a 3 page paper and had it all ready for class, and I was actually feeling really good about it.  By the time class was over, I left feeling like I need to re-write my whole paper. Haha.  Not because it was crap... just because I feel like I need to broaden my research and add more tidbits than just the few references I used.  I probably used way too many quotes, which my professor mentioned isn't a good thing.  She was using a student from the past as an example, but I made the mental note to take out some quotes.  I'm going to run it through the "plagiarism" checker on our student website and see how it comes out.  I really try so hard not to copy or use author's words, and it's hard for me to formulate my own!  I really tried to cite every little tidbit of info but APA format is driving me crazy.  So anyway... I just might re-approach the assignment and see how it comes out. 

Something else I need to do is work a little bit EACH DAY on my class.  I'm used to doing stuff at the last minute.  But this class isn't going to let that fly.  Especially with all the crazy reading assignments.  There were about 10 links of different articles we were supposed to read prior to class today.  I had read about half of them by yesterday and figured I could finish today.  Little did I realize that one little link could actually lead to a journal article 13+ pages.  And I had 5 more links!  YIKES.  So I did A LOT of reading when I could at work-- which I don't want to have to do again because my computer is at a weird angle on my desk and my back is all tweaked now from sitting in a weird position to stare at the screen.  Sooo... from now on I will be a good girl and do a little bit of reading each day-- at home-- at night.

I'm tired.  I'm not really hungry but I feel like getting myself a treat anyway.

We had a 30 minute break tonight and I drove just 5 minutes away to the hospital where Heather is staying.  She had her baby YESTERDAY so I got to visit and hold little Alexia again.  So precious!  Then I zipped back and got to my seat just minutes before the lecture started again.  Perfect timing.  :)

Anyway... probably the biggest thing I need to work on is my professionalism.  I've been doing GREAT with punctuality-- arriving to class about 10-15 minutes early.  That is NOT like me, but I'll keep rolling with it!  I just don't dress nice.  I mean, dressing "nice" for me is wearing a good pair of jeans with a shirt that isn't a Boys & Girls Club or running T-shirt.  Tonight I am wearing a simple J-Crew v-neck T-shirt and I look nice, but probably super grubby compared to everyone else.  So that will be my quest the next few weeks.  Also, I even tried not to lean with my elbows on the table throughout the whole class, and tried to sit up tall and have my hands in my lap. Haha. Such a nerd.  But they are really observing you throughout these next 6 weeks and I just don't know all the things they're watching.  I'll try to be on my best behavior.

Well... I could have gone home 30 minutes ago but I stayed to write this blog.

Now I'm going home!  :)